"An average game that could have used more polishing"

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the start of a trilogy of games based upon the books. Frodo Baggins and his friends Sam, Merry, and Pippin leave on a journey to destroy the one ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

The story telling is good, and the game does follow the story for the most part with the exception of the ending. Also the game cliff hangs, but the trilogy was never continued.

The controls are decent, but the layout could have been better. Not only the layout but the responsiveness could be better. The controls are not bad for most of the game however they are noticeably sluggish in combat.

The graphics are not bad, and the game has some nice effects like leaves fluttering in the wind in the Shire. The animation is decent, and the textures are not bad.

Music sounds fantastic and fits the mood, and the sound effects are not bad. The game does feature voice acting, and the voice acting is good however the game does not use any of the actors from the movies.

The game begins with the player controlling Frodo as he prepares to leave the Shire, and there are a set of objectives to do. There are side missions that can be done and completing them will net the player healing items.

After leaving the Shire, the game hits a stumbling block which is the level design. The first level is the Old Forest, and the area is a giant maze of branching paths. The problem is the lack of a map which makes traversing the forest not fun.

Combat is a flawed system, and it boils down to block and counter. Frodo is very weak and even blocking will cause Frodo to take some minor damage. He can also use the one ring to avoid enemies however relying on the ring is not a good thing because above the health bar is a black and white bar with a red line. If the red line reaches the end of the black bar, Frodo will die and using the ring will move the red line towards the black end of the bar. The combat becomes better later in the game since players will get to play as Aragorn and Gandalf, and the combat is better with them but still flawed.

The enemies are not great, and the archers are the worst since their attacks are difficult to avoid and feel homing. Dying will restart the player back at the beginning of the level or rarely a checkpoint, and this is where the save system comes in handy. The game can be saved at any time which is very useful on the longer levels.

There are a few technical issues like in Mines of Moria where certain points Gandalf will come to a dead stop at a black wall and must wait for the area to load.

Replay value is beating the game, and there is no bonus content. There are some cheats that are reward for beating the game and completing certain objectives however all the cheat codes can be found on the internet.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is an average game that could have use some more polishing to be a good game, and in its current state it is playable but not enjoyable.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10 | Originally Posted: 06/08/12

Game Release: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (US, 09/26/02)